It's SUPPOSED To Be In Black And White!!

Rating: 10/10 (6 February 2007)

Opening with a shot of an upturned helmet on a beach, The Longest Day drops us straight into the middle of a dizzyingly complex series of events; quick scenes involving a number of high ranking officers of many nationalities whizzing past us. This is a gathering of stories that combine to paint the big picture of what happened on the 6th June. And this in itself is the movies great strength. It allows us to see the many faces of this historic day, without focusing on one group of soldiers overly much.
In doing so this movie also gives us such massive scope. We are constantly reminded of the sheer scale of what was involved as if reminding us that yes, this really happened and yes, it was very, very big. This sense of scale is continued with some amazingly shot scenes of battle. One of my favourite is when the remnants of the once great Luftwaffa make a strafe on the troops on one of the Normandy beaches. We see two actual working Messerschmitts fly over 3,000 extras, as well as vehicles and equipment. Another extraordinary scene is when the Free French commandos attack Ouistreham. It is a sweeping helicopter shot that starts tight in and then just moves out, once again showing the sheer scale of the production and, indeed, hinting at the scale of the war itself. The word breathtaking does not even begin to cover it.
Yet amongst all of this grandeur the moments of intimacy are not lost. Richard Burtons jaded pilot is a particularly interesting character. The lone survivor of his original squadron and now shot down over Normandy, he finds himself finally having to deal with death face to face: his former melancholy mood becoming one of introspection. Earlier we see two American soldiers talking on a troop carrier. They're discussing how one of them has received a divorce request from his wife, how he does love her and that he wants to do the best he can for her, his friend doing his best to advise and comfort him. It's not until later, when he's gone, that we realise that the two had never even met before.
Another way of helping us understand the vastness of the events happening around us is to let us view it through the eyes of the common soldier. This is best typified by the characters of Flanagan (Sean Connery) and Clough (Norman Rossington), their commentary of what is happening about them reminiscent of the best traditions of Shakespeare.
Something that this movie gets across so well is just how lucky the Allied invasion was. It seems that their best weapon was the lumbering German bureaucracy and their inability to believe that the Allies are actually invading. Even 2 hours and ten minutes into the movie Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt (Paul Hartman) cannot truly believe the invasion is happening in Normandy. The failure of the German army is summed up so well by Major General Gunther Blumentritt (Curd Jürgens) 'This is history. We are living an historical moment. We are going to lose the war because our glorious Führer has taken a sleeping pill and is not to be awakened. Sometimes I wonder which side God is on.' This is particularly interesting, as earlier an Allied general had been wondering just whose side god was on as well, thus showing us that there is really little difference between the two enemies.
This is a movie that acknowledges many factors. Many British people feel slightly miffed with a lot of American-made war movies about what feels like the downplaying of our role during the second world war. This isn't a recent phenomenon. Objective, Burma! is a fantastic re-telling of history with the Americans suddenly playing the parts of the British and Australians. However in The Longest Day you have John Waynes Colonel telling off one of his subordinates for talking about wanting to have a crack at the enemy. Yes, everyone's impatient, including the British who have just been bombed for a good many years. It's almost hard to imagine anyone in an American movie saying 'I don't think I have to remind you that this war has been going on for almost 5 years. Over half of Europe has been overrun and occupied. We're comparative newcomers. England's gone through a blitz with a knife at her throat since 1940. I'm quite sure that they, too, are impatient and itching to go. Do I make myself clear?' Especially from a country that talks about the '1942-1945' war. Yet here is The Duke saying this, and it actually made me feel good.
Why was this movie filmed in black and white? With a budget of $10,000,000 and an all-star cast, you would think that the studio could spring for some colour film? So it is clearly a stylist choice. This is a movie that is about a book that documents the D-Day assault. The word 'document' is key here. By choosing to film in black and white Zanuck was clearly trying to give this movie a more 'documentary' feel, a classic feel.
This is a movie that could never be made again. The planes flying are actually of the time, the locations are where the action really happened and many of the extras and technical advisers were actually at the D-Day landings. The actors were able to talk to their real life counterparts, indeed many of them were given items to wear/use from the people they were portraying. It's a movie that was made with a huge amount of passion, everyone in front of and behind camera giving it everything they can. With a cast that is beyond belief and characters speaking in their native language this is a one off, a classic, and one of the best war movies ever made, yet it does not feature in IMDBs top 250 movies. Sometimes I weep.